Academic library services and undergraduate academic success: Trends in research literature
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Academic libraries are under increasing pressure from higher education administrators to demonstrate that library services contribute to student academic success. The purpose of this scoping review is to examine the research methods used to investigate academic library contributions to undergraduate academic success. After searching ERIC; Library, Information Science & Technology Abstracts with Full Text; and selected journals, 38 articles were included in this scoping review. The included articles used quantitative methods to primarily explore five academic success measures: grade point average, information literacy skills, retention, final degree attainment, and graduation rates. This scoping review provides areas for librarians to consider when designing research studies about library contributions to student success. First, librarians should consider research designs that incorporate advanced statistical methods or qualitative methods. Second, when designing studies, researchers should consider utilizing higher education theoretical frameworks. Finally, research should be conducted to investigate the previously explored academic success measures from alternate angles or to explore unstudied academic success measures, like job placement, post-college performance, and graduate school entrance exams.
